Score: 90/100
This Franciacorta sparkling wine from the Lombardy region of Northern Italy is a blend of 90% Chardonnay with 10% Pinot Nero (Pinot Noir).
After the first fermentation and 7-month resting in stainless tanks, it was bottled for the second fermentation and aged on its lees for a long 30-month.
Tasting Notes
This Brut Cuvee Franciacorta sparkling wine comes in a bright lemon-yellow color with definite green hues, much greener than its sister cuvées the Blanc de Blanc and the vintage Cuvée (see the beautiful variety of colors in the range in the image below).
The transparent glass and the special shape of the bottle allows to see and enjoy the color even before pouring, a bonus.
The nose also shines with delicate fresh lemon aromas, a touch of leesy brioche, and vegetal acacia.
Some discrete floral characters make it smell overall very elegant, fresh, and zesty with mainly primary fruit characters just underlined by the aging on lees.
The mouthfeel is in line with the nose, and adds plenty of minerality with a crisp acidity that sustains a weighty palate and drives outstanding freshness through the tasting.
Opening the ballet of flavors are the citrus fruits (lime and fresh zesty lemon) combined with floral honey tones. Then the more coating brioche and sweet spices from the secondary components kick in, and provide great depth and powerful flavor intensity, like the lower voices in a chorus. They provide the background tones in the harmony, but never cover the solo singers that are the dominant fruit flavors.
A real symphony of complexity, always bright and fresh this Franciacorta sparkling wine really is.
Much enjoyable!
So enjoy 🙂
Find out more about the producer at Ca d’Or winery profile: Fine Franciacorta & Veneto Sparkling Wines:
The Joyful Colors of Ca d’Or Range
Wine & Food Pairing
I successfully paired this Franciacorta with a 20-month-old Grana Padano Italian cheese.
This is a relatively mature and quite crumbly cheese with much powerful nutty characters and very salty flavors.
The zesty and fresh citrus fruit characters of the wine, and its affirmed acidity cut through the richness of the cheese, and brighten up its creamy and nutty flavors with the livelihood of flower and lime aromas.
But because the wine also has a background of leesy brioche buttery characters, its flavors also marry the cheese’s superbly, without confrontation but rather synergy and harmony.
I have tried a fair amount of wine & Italian cheeses pairings in my days, but this combination of Grana Padano with Franciacorta bubbly was simply great, creating favorable chemical flavor reactions on the palate.
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Ca d’Or Noble Cuvée Franciacorta Label Images
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